


Just and Loyal

by itsveryhardtoexplain



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Different Boy Who Lived, For Want of a Nail, Gen, I wrote this to explore things, it was fun, there are tags i want to use but that would be spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 14:06:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15887553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsveryhardtoexplain/pseuds/itsveryhardtoexplain
Summary: What if Draco Malfoy was the Boy Who Lived? What if the prophecy warned not of parents who defied the dark lord, but instead of those who allied with him?





	Just and Loyal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dirgewithoutmusic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirgewithoutmusic/gifts).



What if Draco Malfoy was the Boy Who Lived? What if the prophecy warned not of parents who defied the dark lord, but instead of those who allied with him? 

Some try to run. The Goyle’s manage to make it to the Order, trading safety for information (a week later a small family appears in a quiet wizarding village in Maine, well within the jurisdiction of The Salem Institute). The Parkinson’s make an attempt, losing their lives for their betrayal.

It splits Voldemort’s followers, with the exception of his most devoted followers. The Malfoys willing submit to their lord, never imagining that they would be harmed. As the purges shorten an already small list, eventually their name is up.

They never see it coming.

Lucius is killed opening the door, ready to greet his lord. Narcissa, always the more parinoid of the two, snaches her child from his crib the moment she hears her husband's body hit the floor. She tries to flee, suing servants corridors and throwing curses behind her , unforgivable and not alike, at every chance. Voldemort follows with ease, deflecting her every attempt, until a seemingly random stretch of corridor where Narcissa stands her ground. She knows it is worthless to run and simply meets his eyes and supported her son’s head so it would not hit the ground as she fell. She kisses his head and whispers in his ears

She does not plead.

She does not cry.

That night people do not thank the Malfoys for their sacrifice. Draco’s name is whispered on the same breath as dark magic and cursed. Whispered with suspicion. No one dares to enter the mansion that night. The next morning, Andromeda Tonks walks through unfamiliar halls of her sister’s home and follows the cries to her nephew.

No one left him on her doorstep.

Draco grows up surrounded by magic, by his cousin’s changing appearance, by his aunt’s enchantments, and by his uncle’s wonder. He loves watching his cousin Nymphadora learn to shorten her hair to trust the right length and observing his uncle seemingly mimic her with only a razor. He is surrounded by the truth, of how his parents did terrible things and that they were repaid this loyalty with death. He learned that it was his mother’s love and loyalty him above all else ( at this his aunts eyes grew sad) that saved him. Pride was his right and loyalty was the gift his mother gave to him. 

Draco grins in delight when his aunt read allowed Dora’s letter announcing her sorting at the dinner table, and almost squealed when she promised to take him to the movies in the same pen stroke.

Livin in a family that accepts every aspect of him, Draco learns to do the same to others. He is fascinated with his uncle’s work at the ministry.  His friends are squibs and the siblings of muggleborns. By the time his Hogwarts letter arrives, he knows he is isolated from most wizards and he knows why. It's the same reason his family lives in Canterbury, not London, despite the commute. It’s  because he is whispered on the same breath as “cursed” and “new dark lord.”

On the first day of school he walks into the station wearing his hair in the latest muggle fascon, styled to perfection, framing his scar nicely. He wears blue jeans and a Space Jam shirt. His cousin cackles that he looks glorious muggleborn. 

Draco holds his head up high among whispering and points and shouts and stares. Without a word (except to hug his family and squeeze the promise of a movie upon his return from Dora) he climbs aboard, clutching his barn owl’s cage and dragging his luggage behind him (his phoenix feather wand is in the leg holster Dora got him for his 11th). Draco make a point of not choosing a compartment in the front or back of the train, he is neither attracting nor avoiding people. He simply sits in the empty compartment and opens a book ( _ Ender's Game _ ) and waits. Many kids pass him without comment, his peculiarity going unnoticed, but just as many stop and stare, some clawing over their heart with three fingers in an unpracticed, jerky motion, as if their mothers made them learn it quickly. Few opened the door, only to see his scar or be pulled back by friends, and even fewer joined him.

When Hermione Granger slides that door open, asking him about a frog and his scar, he simply invites her to join him, something she accepts before going to the compartment across the way. Draco had almost forgotten about the invitation, becoming so engrossed in Ender’s adventures through space that by the time she arrives, luggage, Neville Longbottom, and Trevor in tow, he is almost startled by their appearance.

Neville looks terrified, practically shaking in his shoes. He pointedly does not meet draco’s eyes as Hermione plops down and begins questioning Draco about the wizarding world. By the time the topic of Hogwarts houses is reached, Neville has already given up all pretenses of ignoring draco and joined the  enthusiastic discussion on the merits of Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff.

Neville liked the idea of Gryffindor but seemed to resigned to Hufflepuff, something that Draco defended as the better choice, thinking of his cousin.

Slytherin was mentioned in passing as the house of Draco’s family and was briefly considered by Hermione, but was soon left behind for more realistic ideas.

By the time the train arrived the tree had all but made a pact to stick together, no matter their sortings (to remain loyal, Draco stressed in his mind).

When they seek out their boat Hagrid does not call Draco’s name, he does not openly seek him out. He simply watches the boy from the corner of his eye and takes note, seeing him with the Longbottom boy and remembering his parents.

The three insist on sharing a boat, just beating out a young redhead and his black haired friend with striking green eyes (“Ron Weasley and Harry Potter”, Neville says, “they sometimes come around to play”).

When across the lake and within the opening hall, McGonagall stands before them and her eyes catch on Draco standing amidst the other students, toward the back of the hall.He wilts slightly under her gaze before turning to Hermione and Neville to regain their conversation regarding the ghosts floating about. Moving on quickly, McGonagall briskly explained the sorting before throwing open the great hall  doors and whisking them inside. Draco spots professors he knows, if only by reputation. Dumbledore, Professor Sprout, his godfather. A man his family made a point of avoiding.

Draco could barely pay attention to the sorting itself at first names flitting by (Abbott, Hannah, Hufflepuff. Bones, Susan, Slytherin) as he glanced around the room in an almost dazed fashion, when suddenly, “Granger, Hermione.”

Suddenly Draco is riveted. Hermione marches to the hat, a determined look on her face, and it sits upon her head for but thirty seconds when that rip of a mouth open to cry out “Gryffindor.”

From that moment on Draco’s attention is fixed, with him memorizing names and tics and houses until

“Malfoy, Draco.”

The excite buzz suddenly hushs to a nervous whisper. Despite not hearing distinct voices, Draco hears their words bounce in his head as he approaches the stool.

“Cursed…”

“... Dark Wizard.”

“My parents said…”

“... next dark lord.”

When McGonagall places the hat upon his head he still hears those whispers, and for a moment he fears that he will not hear the hat above them.

_ A Malfoy. Yes. _

Draco stilles, closing his eyes to focus on the voice inside his head.

_ Somehow I do not believe that Slytherin would be the right place for you. _

Draco knows what he wants, so the hat knows as well.

_ A good choice. No other place could serve you better. _

He was certain the exchange, with the whispers echoing around him, took a millennia, but Hermione later assures him it was but 10 seconds.

“Hufflepuff!”

**Author's Note:**

> lol enjoy.  
> I think that Neville would still end up in Gryffindor, don't you?


End file.
